The present invention relates to an occupant protecting apparatus provided with an airbag inflated and deployed in a seat portion of a seat of a vehicle by a gas generated from a gas generation source.
There is a seat belt apparatus having a shoulder belt portion bridged over a side portion of a lumbar portion via a front side of a chest portion obliquely from a shoulder portion, and a lap belt portion bridged over a left side portion via a front side of the lumbar portion in a horizontal direction from the lumbar portion, for example, a right side portion thereof. The seat belt apparatus mentioned above is used in such a manner that the lap belt portion is arranged at a proper position of the lumbar portion, that is, a front side of a pelvis.
In the case that a vehicle comes into collision with a front surface, an occupant who is going to move forward due to inertia is withheld on the seat on the basis of a retaining operation of the seat belt apparatus. However, in the case that the occupant takes a comfort posture, there is a case that a phenomenon that the lumbar portion of the occupant comes off the lap belt portion so as to move forward, that is, a submarine phenomenon is generated. An occupant protecting apparatus for preventing the submarine phenomenon is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2001-239872, 2002-79861, 2004-168227, 2005-112000, and 2005-193844.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-239872, there is disclosed an occupant protecting apparatus which inflates an airbag provided in a seat portion, thereby pushing up a cushion in the seat portion so as to prevent the submarine phenomenon. The airbag is inflated and deployed on a base plate extending approximately over the entire length of the seat portion in a longitudinal direction.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-79861, there is disclosed an occupant protecting apparatus which inflates and deploys an airbag provided in a seat portion, thereby pushing a hip portion of an occupant so as to prevent the submarine phenomenon. The airbag is inflated and deployed on a support plate extending approximately over the entire length of the seat portion in a longitudinal direction.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-168227, there is disclosed an occupant protecting apparatus which inflates an airbag provided on a seat pan constituting a seat portion, thereby pushing up a cushion of the seat portion so as to prevent the submarine phenomenon. A wire spring for cushioning is tensioned between the seat pan and a support shaft. The installation of the wire spring for cushioning contributes to an improvement of a comfortable seating performance.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-112000, there is disclosed an occupant protecting apparatus which inflates an airbag provided on a support panel constituting a seat portion, thereby pushing up a cushion in a seat portion so as to prevent the submarine phenomenon. A wire spring for cushioning is arranged in a rear side of the support panel.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-193844, there is disclosed an occupant protecting apparatus which inflates an airbag provided in a seat portion, thereby pushing up a cushion in a seat portion so as to prevent the submarine phenomenon. The airbag is inflated exclusively upward on a front panel corresponding to a part of a frame body. The wire spring for cushioning is tensioned between a rear frame corresponding to a part of the frame body and a front panel.
In the seat disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2001-239872 and 2002-79861, there is no wire spring for cushioning that contributes to an improvement of the comfortable seating performance. In the seat disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2004-168227, 2005-112000, and 2005-193844, the wire spring for cushioning that contributes to an improvement of the comfortable seating performance is provided. In the sight of the comfortable seating performance, it is desirable to provide a wire spring for cushioning.
A case will be considered in which the airbag inflated and deployed toward a rear side disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-79861 is applied to the seat disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2004-168227, 2005-112000 and 2005-193844. In other words, in the case that the airbag after inflated and deployed is structured such as to protrude to a rear side from the frame (the seat pan, the support panel or the front panel) supporting the cushion of the seat portion, a push-up force generated by the protruding portion is lowered by a downward decline of the protruding portion. It is possible to increase the push-up force generated by the protruding portion by enlarging a protruding amount of the protruding portion. However, it is expected that a load applied to a femoral portion and the hip portion of the occupant at a time when the airbag is inflated and deployed becomes larger in accordance with an increase of the protruding amount. Accordingly, it is desirable to reduce the load mentioned above, however, none of the publications refers to the load mentioned above.